Energy Assistance to Flood-hit Industries

(24/12/2011)

The Ministry of Energy has come up with energy measures to assist industries that were affected by the recent flooding. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan explained the measures, aimed at bringing quick recovery to the industrial sector. The first measure seeks to enhance the efficiency of energy use in the manufacturing and business sectors. The Ministry of Energy will offer a grant aid to support 30 percent of the restoration cost for machinery, materials, and equipment in flood-hit areas. It has prepared a budget of two billion baht to carry out this project. In the second measure, affected factories and workplaces will be urged to turn to equipment, materials, and devices with higher quality. The change will lead to better production, which will help them tackle technical problems in the long run. The third measure seeks to provide advice and knowledge on energy conservation and the use of alternative energy. In this connection, the Ministry of Energy has asked the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and seven universities to send experts and technicians to check machines in inundated workplaces, assess the damage, and offer suggestions on how to repair them. The seven universities include Thammasat, Mahidol, Silpakorn, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok. The Ministry of Energy will also organize a fair in Bangkok and 27 other provinces, from December 27 to January 4 to provide an opportunity for people wishing to buy home appliances to replace their flood-hit items. In Bangkok, the event will take place at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center on Bang Na – Trat Road. Registration will be opened for flood-hit people at the fair, where they will be given discount coupons worth 2,000 baht. The coupons can be used to buy products there up to a total value of 10,000 baht, with a discount of 2,000 baht. Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul said that the Ministry of Industry had set up five “industrial shelters” to assist the production sector, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Flood-affected industrial operators have been allowed to use the shelters as their temporary production bases under the “industrial clinic” project to rehabilitate flood-hit SMEs. Out of the five industrial shelters, two are located in Bangkok and three in the provinces, namely Khon Kaen, Suphan Buri, and Chon Buri. They began operations in October 2011, and the Ministry of Industry has arranged officials to provide knowledge about machinery repair to industrial operators. As for post-flood garbage disposal, the Pollution Control Department is checking the water quality in flood-hit industrial estates. It is also working with the Ministry of Industry to inspect industrial waste in the industrial estates and suggest effective ways to dispose them in order to ensure that the public is safe from toxic chemicals.